I am staring into the mouth of an underground tunnel big enough to accommodate a tube train – and it’s in Cambridge. For two decades I have been banging on about the need for Cambridge to solve its traffic problems by tunnelling underground – just like they did decades ago in cities the same size across Europe.

Well, it took the arrival of AstraZeneca in town for us to get a tunnel, but unfortunately you and I shall never get to use it to avoid the city’s traffic jams, as it has been built to transport power and water and all sorts of other necessities from an energy centre to AZ’s new R&D building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

Today I am being given a treat. Dressed to look like the dummy that stands outside Mackays in East Road, I have the honour of being allowed to inspect parts of the AZ building site where no hack has been before, which is how I get to be staring down that big mouth.

As it happens, Andy Williams – AZ’s VP for Cambridge strategy & operations – and I have just spent the best part of an hour in the construction site canteen where our conversation has more than once touched on the need for an underground solution to the city’s traffic crisis.

“I think a tunnel in the long term is perfectly feasible,” Andy says, then adds: “But we are not experts on tunnels, although slightly better than we used to be.” And then we go off to look at the AZ tunnel.

Deep... AstraZeneca's tunnel under Cambridge is well under way (Image: David Porter)

Still on the topic of excavation, did you know that quite a selling job had to be done on the AZ folk from up north? “People up there thought everyone lived in landfill sites in and around Cambridge and that nobody smiled. And they looked at the Cambridge News and read reports about low funding for education. Claire Ruskin (ceo of Cambridge Network) and I had to go up there to tell them they would like it here.”

Most staff moving from Cheshire have now done so, found their new homes, sorted out schools, and settled into offices and labs in various locations in and around the city until the new HQ on the Biomed Campus is occupied from the end of next year.

Read More

You have to think about it for only a moment to realise that when a big player like AZ moves into a city which is closer in size to a town, they are going to want to have some say in how things are run. And for Andy, although he has been here for many years – originally with Cambridge Antibody Technology, then MedImmune – it has been quite a surprise.

On behalf of AZ he sits on all sorts of organisations concerned with the future of Cambridge – bodies where local government and the business community meet – and he is amazed: “The struggle is bringing the business community together. Everything in Cambridge has been built from the bottom up, so there is no consistent business voice. I would like to see AstraZeneca bring together the business community.”

The pharma giant is already doing quite a bit in terms of outreach in the community, working with schools – not least to plant seeds early for their own future workforce, and to see there are going to be affordable homes for them.

Housing those who have moved from Cheshire has been less of a squeeze than might have been thought a couple of years ago when house prices went truly insane in the city.

“Our people who have come here don’t have the same inherent desire to live in Cambridge that we do; they don’t have the same connections to Cambridge or pre-conceived ideas about Cambourne or Haverhill. A lot have chosen to live down the train line to Royston and up to Ely – there are not as many as we imagined living in the city.”

But for those who have chosen to live elsewhere, AZ wants to do all it can to make sure they are not frazzled and exhausted by the time they get into work. Thirty per cent are cycling, very few are walking, 5 per cent are car-sharing – a choice which carries a guarantee from the company that taxis will be provided if a driver has to go home earlier than his car-sharing buddy – and the rest are driving.

Cambridge: AstraZeneca's arrival is just one part of the city's astonishing development in the 21st century (Image: David Porter)

We now reach a point on the tour bit of our meeting where we are looking down upon a neat little strip of land next to the energy centre, which Andy hopes will become a railway station.

“We grabbed the opportunity for a station and AstraZeneca is paying for the feasibility studies, which would not have happened if the council had to do it. We are taking a risk, but we will get all the money back from the developers if the station is built.”

The company has also agreed to fund the maintenance of new cycle paths from Melbourn to Cambridge along the A10, and provides bikes and lockers.

“What we want is to make sure that us coming to Cambridge doesn’t make it worse, that’s all.

“We are reluctant to take any extreme views, the biggest thing AstraZeneca needs is consistency. It takes 10 to 15 years to make a new drug.” We have been talking about the Cambridge City Deal and the inconsistencies trailing its sorry history to date.

“The only benefit from the last six months is that at least we now have the population engaged, and we have to see that as an opportunity.”

Andy Williams, AstraZeneca’s VP for Cambridge strategy & operations

Andy says “we” because he has become so involved in community matters – this is his job, but he laments having to be on so many different groups and the lack of one strong voice such as has been in the case in Manchester “where one strong leader has brought all the parties together, and we have the Northern Powerhouse.

“Strong leadership is required to implement measures such as a congestion charge, but unless you have a mandate for a vision, you will struggle to get it.”

“Yes,” I say. “I suppose there must have been people in Cheshire who didn’t want to move.”